Communication system having user selectable features

ABSTRACT

A communication system comprising a server capable of establishing telephone communications between at least two users of a communication network and transcribe audio and/or voice communication signals of either or both users of a telephone call established by the server and the transcription is done in accordance with user selectable feature information entered by the users during a registration procedure to the communication system at a website residing in a registration server in communication with the communication system. The communication system may be part of the PSTN or the Internet or both.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/904,854entitled “Communication System Having User Selectable Features” filed onMay 29, 2013.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field oftelecommunications. In particular, the present invention relates to acommunication system that allows its users to select their desiredfeatures.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The types of personal communication devices used in various availablecommunication networks have increased in the past several years. Usersof personal communication devices have available to them such devices ascellular phones (many of which are of the smartphone variety), tablets,laptops, wireline phones and other devices. Users who are hearingimpaired and/or who suffer from some type of speech impediment, for themost part, cannot use a typical personal telecommunication device to anyeffective extent without having to undergo a lengthy process ofregistering for subscription to additional features provided by theservice provider to whom they currently subscribe. Many times, suchsubscribers are provided with special equipment and need to go throughcertain arrangements in order to receive the desired services from theirservice providers. For example, for a telephone call, a user may have todial a special number prior to making a telephone call; the specialnumber allows the user's communication device to communicate directlywith an agent or customer service personnel of the service provider toallow for the allocation of special equipment and other resources inestablishing and/or maintaining the telephone call. In manycircumstances, each time a user wants to change or add features, theuser has to go though the registration process, usually with a customerservice personnel of the service provider, to effectuate the specialfeatures.

One of the features on which hearing impaired users rely is thetranscribing of incoming voice that allows these users to receivecaptioned text representing the words being spoken by another partyduring an established telephone call between the user and the otherparty. Another feature may be where the equipment may have texttransmission capabilities whereby the subscriber types his/her responsesduring the conversation because the subscriber may have a speechimpediment in addition to being deaf or heating impaired. Further,because of a speech impediment of a subscriber, or a user wanting tobecome a subscriber, a conversation between a customer agent and a usermay be virtually impossible, or at the very least, extremely difficult.

With the state of communication devices today, a user with a speechimpediment will have great difficulty in conveying his/her request forspecial services being provided by a service provider. Further, such auser may have special requests for services not advertised by theservice provider, but may be well within the set of services such aprovider could provide. Without having the ability to properly conveytheir desired features for communication services to a service provideror an agent thereof, users who are hearing impaired and/or users whohave a speech impediment may not be able to take advantage of some ofthe communication services designed especially for them. Ironically,this problem fundamentally stems from a lack of communication capabilitybetween the user and an agent of the service provider.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The method and system of the present invention provide a communicationsystem server capable of providing communication services includingtranscription services to its users based on at least received userinformation such as user selected feature information entered by usersand received by a user accessible communication portal of thecommunication system server. Users are able to select from a list ofavailable features, including transcription services, provided by theservice provider. Users are also able to enter user profile informationat the user accessible communication portal during a registrationprocess wherein they are able to become subscribers of the serviceprovider and thus subscribe to and enter into a payment agreement withthe service provider for desired services.

In one embodiment, the system of the present invention comprises acommunication switch, a registration server, a transcription engine anda user database all of which are coupled to each other directly orindirectly as described herein. The communication switch is also coupledto one or more communication networks and to user equipment via the oneor more communication networks. The registration server has a useraccessible portal that provides users and/or subscribers the ability toselect specific features from a list of available features provided bythe system provider. The user accessible communication portal may beimplemented, for example, as one or more Internet websites residing inthe registration server (or coupled to the registration server) at whichusers can subscribe for communication services in a registration processduring which users can select from a list of available features that arepart of the services for which they are registering. During theregistration process, a user can also provide user authenticationinformation to the registration server. The system can then use the userauthentication information to later confirm that a user requestingadditional services, including new features or a change of features, canbe confirmed as a registered subscriber who has already entered into anagreement with the service provider to pay for specific communicationservices. The user authentication information is typically informationthat is unique to each particular user; for example, user created loginand password may be used as authentication information.

The method of the present invention comprises establishing, by thecommunication switch, communications (e.g., a telephone call) between atleast two users at least one of which has requested communicationservices. The users can select the features they desire from a list offeatures through a user accessible communication portal. The users alsohave the ability to describe other features (not listed by the serviceprovider), and request for such features they believe can be provided bythe service provider. One of the listed features can be the capabilityof transcribing voice and or audio communication signals into associatedtext. The associated text can then be transmitted as per user settingsestablished during the registration process wherein users select and, insome cases, describe the particular type of services and associatedfeatures they are seeking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken inconjunction with the drawings in which like reference numbers indicateidentical or functionally similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the communication systemof the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one embodiment of the method of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The method and system of the present invention provide a communicationsystem server capable of providing communication services includingtranscription services to its users based on at least received userinformation such as user selected feature information entered by usersand received by a user accessible communication portal of thecommunication system server. Users are able to select from a list ofavailable features, including transcription services, provided by theservice provider. Users are also able to enter user profile informationat the user accessible communication portal during a registrationprocess wherein they are able to become subscribers of the serviceprovider and thus subscribe to and enter into a payment agreement withthe service provider for desired services.

In one embodiment, the system of the present invention comprises acommunication switch, a registration server, a transcription engine anda user database all of which are coupled to each other directly orindirectly as described herein. The communication switch is also coupledto one or more communication networks and to user equipment via the oneor more communication networks. The registration server has a useraccessible communication portal that provides users and/or subscribersthe ability to select specific features from a list of availablefeatures provided by the system provider. The user accessiblecommunication portal may be implemented, for example, as one or moreInternet websites residing in the registration server (or coupled to theregistration server) at which users can subscribe for communicationservices in a registration process during which users can select from alist of available features that are part of the services for which theyare registering. The websites for the registrar server may reside atanother server but may be directed to or coupled to the registrationserver. During the registration process, a user can also provide userauthentication information to the registration server. The system canthen use the user authentication information to later confirm that auser requesting additional services, including new features or a changeof features, can be confirmed as a registered subscriber who has alreadyentered into an agreement with the service provider to pay for specificcommunication services. The user authentication information is typicallyinformation that is unique to each particular user; for example, usercreated login and password may be used as authentication information.

The method of the present invention comprises establishing, by thecommunication switch, communications (e.g., a telephone call) between atleast two users at least one of which has requested communicationservices. The users can select the features they desire from a list offeatures through a user accessible communication portal. The users alsohave the ability to describe other features (not listed by the serviceprovider), and request for such features they believe can be provided bythe service provider. One of the listed features can be the capabilityof transcribing voice and or audio communication signals into associatedtext. The associated text can then be transmitted as per user settingsestablished during the registration process wherein users select and, insome cases, describe the particular type of services and associatedfeatures they are seeking. Any subscriber can request for thetranscription of his own voice communications, or for transcription ofsomeone the subscriber has called or both the subscriber and the calledparty. There may be many variations to such requests. For example, arequest can be valid for a certain period of time defined by thesubscriber. The request can be defined in terms of a particular numberof communication sessions (e.g., received telephone calls, receivedconference calls) in which the subscriber has participated. The requestcan be a certain number of telephone calls made by the subscriber over acommunication network such as the Internet. The request can beassociated with the number of telephone calls made to a particular otherparty (i.e., another user or other subscriber) or can be specific to oneparticular party or group of parties.

The method and system of the present invention provide a communicationsystem server capable of providing communication services includingtranscription services to its users based on at least received userinformation such as user selected feature information entered by usersand received by a user accessible communication portal of thecommunication system server. Users are able to select from a list ofavailable features, including transcription services, provided by theservice provider. Users are also able to enter user profile informationat the user accessible communication portal during a registrationprocess wherein they are able to become subscribers of the serviceprovider and thus subscribe to and enter into a payment agreement withthe service provider for desired services.

In one embodiment, the system of the present invention comprises acommunication switch, a registration server, a transcription engine anda user database all of which are coupled to each other directly orindirectly as described herein. The communication switch is also coupledto one or more communication networks and to user equipment via the oneor more communication networks. The registration server has a useraccessible portal that provides users and/or subscribers the ability toselect specific features from a list of available features provided bythe system provider. The user accessible communication portal may beimplemented, for example, as one or more :Internet websites residing inthe registration server at which users can subscribe for communicationservices in a registration process during which users can select from alist of available features that are part of the services for which theyare registering. During the registration process, a user can alsoprovide user authentication information to the registration server. Thesystem can then use the user authentication information to later confirmthat a user requesting additional services, including new features or achange of features, can be confirmed as a registered subscriber who hasalready entered into an agreement with the service provider to pay forspecific communication services. The user authentication information istypically information that is unique to each particular user; forexample, user created login and password may be used as authenticationinformation.

The method of the present invention comprises establishing, by thecommunication switch, communications (e.g., a telephone call) between atleast two users at least one of which has requested communicationservices. The users can select the features they desire from a list offeatures through a user accessible communication portal. The users alsohave the ability to describe other features (not listed by the serviceprovider), and request for such features they believe can be provided bythe service provider. One of the listed features can be the capabilityof transcribing voice and or audio communication signals into associatedtext. The associated text can then be transmitted as per user settingsestablished during the registration process wherein users select and, insome cases, describe the particular type of services and associatedfeatures they are seeking.

The description of the communication subsystem and the method ofselecting features of the present invention is disclosed herein usingthe following terms, terminology, definitions and abbreviations:

The associated text refers to readable text resulting from a voicerecognition system (using voice recognition software and speech tuningalgorithms) that analyzes and processes acoustics generated from voicesignals. Alternatively, electrical signals representing voice signalscan also be processed by such a voice recognition system to transcribeautomatically electric signals representing words spoken by a person orwords generated by a speaker or other voice-broadcasting device.

A Server is a computer or computer system comprising of one or moreprocessors, various blocks of memory, and supporting circuitry toprocess information and to interface with users or other servers.

A registration server is a server that may be publicly available throughone or more publicly accessible communication network(s) to allow usersand/or subscribers to enter various types of information including butnot limited to user selected feature information and user profileinformation.

The term “automatic” or “automatically” refers to a process of stepsand/or act(s) or tasks performed by electrical, electronic orelectromechanical devices, mechanical devices, machine or systems(including the present invention) in response to information or signalsinputted and/or received into such machines, devices or systems.

A communication network is any digital or analog network or anycombination of such networks whereby transmission and reception ofassociated text, voice, video, and graphics can be achieved.

Telephone call or communications—a communication link establishedbetween at least two parties each having a communication equipment(e.g., cell phone, telephone, desktop or laptop computer, tablet)allowing each of the equipment to transmit and/or receive voice, text,video, graphics and various other forms of information through operationof said equipment by an entity (e.g., one or more persons, communicationequipment) where the information is transmitted over one or morecommunication networks in accordance with the standards and protocol ofsuch networks.

Party—communication equipment used to transmit and receive signals(e.g., voice, video, text, graphic) over one or more communicationnetworks. Also, a person, machine/device or system operating saidcommunication equipment and using resources being provided by a serviceprovider (e.g., an Internet Service Provider (ISP)) to effectuate atelephone call or communications over one or more communicationnetworks.

Established telephone call or Established communications refers to theprovision of various communication infrastructure equipment,communication channels, communication links and other resources ownedand/or controlled (at least during a telephone call or duringcommunications) by a service provider to effectuate communicationsbetween the parties to a telephone call as per the standards andprotocols of the one or more networks through which the signals of thetelephone call traverse.

Registered User refers to a user who has undergone a registrationprocess established by a service provider. The registration process ispreferably performed through a user accessible communication networkportal (e.g., a website on the Internet; toll free number over atelephone network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN)wherein the service provider has established a procedure through which auser can input user profile information, user authentication informationand can select one or more desired features from the list of availableuser selectable features provided by the service provider. Also, duringthe registration process, the user is able to describe and requestservice for any other feature not on the list of available userselectable features during registration. Hereinafter, the terms“registered user,” “registered party,” or “subscriber” can be usedinterchangeably.

The term “couple” or “couple(d) to” as used herein refers to a path or aseries of connected paths (permanent or temporary) that allowsinformation (in one or more formats) or signals to flow from one pointor equipment in a communication network to another point within the sameequipment or another equipment in the same or different communicationnetwork in accordance with the protocol(s) of the communicationnetwork(s).

The term user(s) refers to individuals, groups of individuals, anorganized entity such as a corporation, or a communications system or asubsystem thereof with the ability to enter user profile information,user selectable feature information or other information at a userand/or publicly available service provider communication portal. Theinformation inputted by the user(s) dictates how voice, data, graphics,video information and other information is to be processed during anestablished telephone call between at least two users. Users who havesuccessfully registered and have a login and password associated withthem are referred to as subscribers.

The term user profile information relates to identification informationand relevant personal information of a user. The inputting of userprofile information can be done, for example, at a service providerdesignated website, a toll free 800 number or through other publiclyaccessible communication portals.

The term Internet enabled device(s) relates to various personalcommunication equipment owned and/or used by users to convey informationover the Internet. Examples of such equipment are laptops, telephones,cellular phones (e.g., smartphones), tablets, desktop computers andother communication devices capable of gaining access to the Internetthrough the use of Internet browsers such as Explorer, Safari, Firefox,Windows Mobile, Netscape Navigator, Lynx, Symbian and receiveinformation on only in their original formats, but also in Java, Flash,HTTP/S, TEXT and XML format, which are typically used by the Internet.

The term user authentication information refers to information inputtedby a user during the registration process that uniquely identifies theuser and which allows a service provider to confirm the identity of theuser and the particular set of services for which the user hasregistered. User login and password for a website are examples of userauthentication information.

The term user selectable feature information refers to information thatdescribes a defined set of processing steps of signals or a set ofoperations applied to user received communication signals bycommunication equipment owned and/or controlled by a service providerwhere said steps or operations are performed to achieve a predictableand/or desirable outcome by a user and/or by a service provider.

The term user database information refers to information formatted asper a communication standard and/or protocol that uniquely identifiesuser equipment (including Internet enabled devices) such as an IP phone.For example, user database information for an IP phone would be thephone number associated with the phone or the particular telephone lineto which the IP phone is connected.

The term service provider refers to an entity or organization that ownsand/or controls various communication equipment forming a communicationsystem where said communication equipment provides communicationservices to subscribers in one or more communication network(s) inaccordance with the standards and protocols of the communicationnetwork(s).

The term communication service(s) refers to specific sets of processingsteps or processing procedures applied to received user generatedcommunication signals performed by equipment owned and/or controlled bya service provider in accordance with protocols and communicationstandards of the one or more communication networks to which the serviceprovider equipment is coupled.

The term user accessible communication portal refers to a useraccessible communication access point to which users convey (i.e.,transmit and/or receive) information regarding the type of service theydesire or adjustments to the type of service for which they haveregistered. The communication portal can be part of a communicationnetwork such as the PSTN or the Internet or both. The communicationportal is implemented as an Internet website residing on theregistration server or an 800 toll free number or other toll free numbermanned by agents of the service provider or equipped with automaticanswering software that can assist a user in selecting the type ofservice including user selectable features that can be selected.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown the communication system 100 ofthe present invention positioned as part of a communication network 102and coupled to user equipment 106 and 108 via communication channels 116and 118 respectively. Communication network can be the Internet, thePSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) or any analog or digitalnetwork through which audio/voice signals, text, graphics, video andother types of signals can traverse in accordance with communicationstandards and protocols of the communication systems. Further,communication network 102 may represent more than one network. Forexample, portions of the communication system of the present inventionmay be part of the Internet while other portions may be part of the PSTNor POTS (Plain Old Telephone System).

The communication system 100 of the present invention comprisescommunication switch 104, Database 110, registration server 112 andTranscription Engine 114. The communication channels 116, 118 thatcouple user equipment 106 and 118 to communication switch 104 may bepart of a communication network of which the communication switch 104forms part. For example, the communication channels 116, 118,communication switch 104, Transcription Engine 114 and may be part ofthe PSTN while registration server 112 may be part of the Internet thusmaking registration server 112 a web server. User equipment 106 and 108may be IP (Internet Protocol) phones capable of transmitting and/orreceiving voice and/or text over the Internet in accordance with VoIPprotocols and standards. Communication channels 116 and 118 may bevoice/data channels that are equipped to carry text, voice, audio,video, graphics, any combination thereof and other types of signals. Thevarious components of communication system 100, viz., communicationswitch 104, registration server 112, Transcription Engine 114 anddatabase 110 are coupled to each other either directly or indirectly.For example, although there is no direct coupling between TranscriptionEngine 114 and database 110, it will be readily understood thatinformation (i.e., in the form of communication signals) can be conveyed(i.e., transmitted and/or received) between each such component via thecommunication switch 104.

Transcription Engine 114 may be implemented as a computer system havingat least one processor for executing voice recognition software and/orspeech tuning algorithms to transcribe voice and/or audio communicationsignals, automatically and in real time, into associated text based onat least user selected feature information. Database 110 may beimplemented as a memory space containing information associated withusers of a communication network to which the switch is coupled and saidinformation relates to identity of user or user equipment as defined bycommunication standards and protocols of one or more communicationnetworks to which the communication switch is coupled. For example, onetype of user database information may be the telephone number associatedwith a particular telephone line to which user equipment of a user isconnected. For example, when a user originates a call, the telephonenumber associated with the line connected to the user equipment (e.g.,IP phone) the user information for that IP phone that is stored in theuser database. A registration server is a server that receives userprofile information, user authentication information. A user desiring tobe a subscriber to the communication system of the present inventionwill use a user accessible communication portal through which he/sheenters user profile information, user authentication information andother types of information. The user accessible communication portal mayalso be publicly accessible. All of the entered information is stored inthe registration server. Communication switch 104 represents switchingequipment ultimately coupled to user equipment via intermediateconnections (not shown) and/or communication channels and also coupledto other communication equipment such as other communication switchesvia high capacity communication channels (e.g., trunk lines).Communication switch 104 has the capability to establish communications(e.g., a telephone call) with one or more user equipment simultaneouslyin accordance with communication standards and protocols of thecommunication network to which the communication switch belongs.

The communication system 100 and method of the present invention provideusers with the capability to specify the type of service they desirethrough a selection of user selectable features that are listed andaccessible to a user during a registration process. Further, aregistered user (i.e., a subscriber) may subsequently amend its set ofuser selectable features at any point. Also, a user or subscriber mayspecify the length of period during which each or any of its userselected features is activated. For ease of explanation, the followingdescription of the operation of the communication system and method ofthe present invention will be made in the context of communicationswitch 104, database 110, Transcription engine 114 being part of thePSTN and registration server 112 being part of the Internet. It will beunderstood that all of the components of communication system 100 asshown in FIG. 1 may be implemented as a single server having digital andanalog communication equipment, processors, logic and memory circuitryto perform all of the tasks needed to allow a user to select theservices and associated features being provided by communication system100. The communication system 100 is shown with separate components forease of explanation and thus it will be understood that thecommunication system of the present invention is not limited in anymanner by the specific implementation shown in FIG. 1. Otherimplementations can be configured or designed to fall within theprovince of the present invention as described and claimed herein.

A user wishing to subscribe to the communication services being providedby communication system 100 will first register via the Internet at awebsite residing in Web server 112 shown in FIG. 1. The user willprovide user profile information such as name, address, telephonenumber, email address, and payment information such as credit cardinformation. The user will also provide user authentication information,which is information that is unique to the user to allow the system toconfirm a user's identity in subsequent user request to gain access tothe website. Thus, the website serves as a user accessible communicationportal. Another implementation of a user accessible communication portalis an 800 toll free number where the user can select various availablefeatures when prompted by a system to press a certain number indicatingselection of a particular feature. Alternatively, a user who does nothave any speech impediment can discuss, via telephone, his/her desiredfeatures with an agent of a service provider who owns and/or controlsthe communication system of the present invention. Upon dialing the 800toll free number, the user will be give the choice to either communicatevia the prompting system or with an agent of the service provider. Whenregistering through a website, a user will be given an opportunity todescribe any other features he/she desires, but which is not included inthe list of user selectable features presented to the user by thewebsite. In such a scenario, a user can have a follow up discussion withan agent of the system by phone or via text through a chat functionprovided by the service provider. A user accessible communication portalmay be publicly accessible or may have limited access.

One of the features that a user, who is hearing impaired or deaf, canselect is to be able to receive a transcription of the voice signalsbeing transmitted to that user's equipment (e.g., an IP phone) during atelephone call originated either by the user or by the other party tothe telephone call. Further, a user may desire to have a transcript ofhis own voice in addition to a transcript of the other party for atelephone conversation. The user may choose to transcribe telephonecalls for a certain period of time or for certain incoming calls or forcertain telephone numbers called by the user. A user is able to amendthe settings for transcription of telephone calls at any time duringhis/her subscription.

For example, after a user of IP phone 106 has registered and thus hassubscribed to a service and has also selected the feature of real timeautomatic transcription of received and transmitted voice and/or audiosignals during an established telephone call (originated and/or receivedby the user), the user selectable feature information is conveyed fromWeb server 112 to communication switch 104, Transcription Engine 114 andDatabase 110; this information will indicate to these equipment that thecommunication system 100 is to generate a transcript of voice and/oraudio signals transmitted and/or received by IP phone 106 during andestablished telephone call originated or received by IP phone 106.Database 110 contains user database information that identifies userequipment in a manner defined by the PSTN (or the network thatcommunication switch is part of). For example, when communication switch104 is part of the PSTN each user equipment (e.g., each IP phone) isidentified by a telephone number with a specific format defined by thepertinent PSTN protocols. Thus a telephone call involving IP phone 106will be established by communication switch 104 so as to execute thetranscription feature that was requested by the user of IP phone 106during his/her registration process or procedure. Communication switch104, although shown coupled to IP phones 106 and 108, is also coupled toa plurality of user equipment and to other communication equipment suchas other switches (not shown). For ease of discussion only IP phones 106and 108 are shown coupled to communication switch 104.

Continuing with the above example, suppose the user of IP phone 106originates a call to IP phone 108. Communication switch 104 proceeds toestablish the call and connects the phones via their respectivecommunication channels (116 and 118) as shown. Prior to completing theestablishment of the call, communication switch 104 will determine ifthe called user (i.e., user of IP phone 108) is a subscriber and furtherwhether such a subscriber already has selected transcription oftransmitted and/or received voice and/or audio signals. If the user ofIP phone 108 is a subscriber and has already selected the transcriptionof transmitted and received audio/voice signals, then communicationswitch 104 completes the establishment of the call. Voice and/or audiosignals from user of IP phone 106 are received by communication switch104 via communication channel 116. Communication switch 104 routes thesignals from IP phone 106 to Transcription Engine 114, which transcribessaid signals into associated text. Transcription Engine 114 thentransfers the associated text to communication switch 104, whichtransmits the associated text to user equipment 106 and 108. Similarly,voice and/or audio signals from IP phone 108 are transcribed into textand transmitted to IP phones 106 and 108.

Still continuing with the example being discussed, but suppose that theuser being called (i.e., user of IP phone 108) is either (i) asubscriber, but has not selected the transcription feature; (ii) is asubscriber but has selected to transcribe his own voice to himself andnot to anyone else; or (iii) is not a subscriber. In this case, duringthe establishment of the telephone call, communication switch 104 willretrieve a message (which can be stored in database 110) informing theuser of IP phone 108 that the caller wishes to transcribe the voicesignals from IP phone 108. The message will further inform the user ofIP phone 108 that he/she can continue with the telephone call orterminate the call. If the user of IP phone 108 decides to terminate thecall upon giving the option to do so, communication switch 104 will doso and send a message to the user of IP phone 106 that the call wasterminated by the called party and that the user of IP phone 106 couldconsider removing the transcription feature and try calling again. Theuser of IP phone 106 can then make the changes to the user selectablefeature information and make the call to IP phone 108 again. In thismanner any user having its equipment that is routed throughcommunication switch 104 of the present invention who does not wanttheir voice/audio signal transcribed will be given the opportunity notto proceed with such communications during establishment of suchcommunications by communication switch 104 of the communication systemof the present invention.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a flow chart 200 representingthe method of the present invention. For ease of discussion, the methodof the present invention will be explained in the context of theembodiment of the communication system of the present invention as shownin FIG. 1. Further, the communications to be established bycommunication switch 104 is a telephone call. In step 202 a telephonecall is detected by communication switch 104. In step 204, thecommunication switch 204 determines whether the telephone call is aconference call.

If the telephone call is indeed a conference call, the method of thepresent invention moves to step 218 where the communication switch 104determines, from information in the web server 112 and database 110,whether any of the parties to the conference call is registered as asubscriber to the communication system. If all of the parties areregistered users or subscribers, and there exists no conflict situation,then the method of the present invention moves to step 214.

A conflict situation exists when the setting for text transmission andreception by any one party is in direct conflict with the setting ofanother party to the conference call. For example, suppose party A wantsto receive text of his own voice and not have this text transmitted toanyone else. Further, suppose party B wants to receive text of party ofeveryone's voice including party A's voice then we have a conflictsituation.

In such a situation, the method of the present invention moves to step208 where, for a conference call, it sends the appropriate messages toall parties indicating the conflicts and suggesting one or more defaultsituations to remove the conflicts. The method of the present inventionthen moves to step 210 where the call is terminated and messages aresent to all parties informing them of the conflicts and their need toresolve these conflicts before making another between them. Also, for aconference call, if some of the parties are registered (i.e., not all ofthe parties are registered), the method of the present invention movesto step 208 if there is a conflict and proceeds as discussed above. Ifthere is no conflict, the method of the present invention moves to step214.

In step 214, there is no conflict in the conference call and thus thecommunication system establishes the call to transcribe the variousvoice signals as per the settings of the user selectable information ofthe parties. The method of the present invention them moves to step 216where the conference call is processed as per the protocol(s) of thecommunication network within which the communication switch resides.

Returning to step 204, if the call is not a conference call (i.e., thecall involves only two parties), then the method of the presentinvention moves to step 206 where the method of the present inventiondetermines whether either party is registered. If none of the parties isregistered or is a subscriber, then the method of the present inventionmoves to step 216 and processes the call in accordance with the properprotocols. It is to be noted that in the case where none of the partiesis registered for a two party call (or for a conference call), theparties may still use the communication system of the present invention,but may not enjoy the features (such as voice transcription). Suchfeatures are only available for those who have subscribed to them.

Returning to step 206, if one or both of the parties are registered, themethod of the present invention moves to step 208. In step 208 eitherboth parties are registered or one of the parties is registered. Ifthere is a conflict situation whereby one of the parties has set alimitation on the transmission of his text (i.e., his/her voicetranscribed) then the method of the present invention will terminate thecall in step 210. In step 212, the method of the present invention willsend a message to both parties explaining to each party why the call wasterminated and suggest that both parties amend their settings to removethe conflict if they want to communicate with each other over thecommunication system. A conflict may exist, for example, when a firstparty wants to receive the text of a second party, but the second partyonly wants to transmit his text to himself and not to the first party.

If, however, there is no conflict situation, then a confirmation messageis sent to both parties in step 208. The confirmation message confirmsto both parties how their transcribed text will be transmitted if atall. The call is not terminated in step 210 and the method of thepresent invention moves to step 214 where the call is established as perthe user selectable feature information and then to step 216 where thecall is processed as per the pertinent and proper protocols of thecommunication network(s) being used by the parties and the communicationswitch.

While various aspects of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail can be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. Thus, the present invention should not be limited by any ofthe above described exemplary aspects, but should be defined only inaccordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

In addition, it should be understood that the figures in theattachments, which highlight the structure, methodology, functionalityand advantages of the present invention, are presented for examplepurposes only. The present invention is sufficiently flexible andconfigurable, such that it may be implemented in ways other than thatshown in the accompanying figures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication system comprising: A serverforming part of one or more communication networks and for receivinguser selected feature information through a user accessiblecommunication portal, user database information, and user profileinformation and applies at least the received user selected featureinformation and one or more requests received from users of thecommunication system to establish communications between said users. 2.The communication system of claim 1 where the server comprises acommunication switch, a registration server, a transcription engine anda user database coupled to each other within and/or through one or morecommunication networks and where the user accessible communicationportal is coupled to or is part of the registration server to allow theserver to process communication signals of the establishedcommunications based on at least the user selected feature informationreceived from the user accessible communication portal.
 3. The system ofclaim 2 where the transcription engine comprises a computer systemhaving at least one processor for executing voice recognition softwareand/or speech tuning algorithms to transcribe voice and/or audiocommunication signals, automatically and in real time, into associatedtext based on at least user selected feature information.
 4. Thecommunication system of claim 2 where the communication switchestablishes the communications in accordance with protocols and/orcommunication standards of the one or more communication networks towhich the communication switch is coupled.
 5. The communication systemof claim 2 where the user accessible communication portal is a toll freenumber accessible via the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) orthe Internet.
 6. The communication system of claim 2 where each userfirst registers for service via the user accessible communication portaland enters user profile information into the registration server andwhere the communication switch routes receive communication signals ofthe established communications in accordance with the received userselectable feature information from at least one of the users.
 7. Thecommunication system of claim 2 where the one or more communicationnetworks is the Internet and the user accessible communication portal isan Internet website residing in the registration server and where theuser selected feature information relates to one or more requests forautomatic and real time transcription of communication signals receivedby the registration server.
 8. The communication system of claim 7 wherethe one or more requests for transcription of received communicationsignals is specified for a certain period of time.
 9. The communicationsystem of claim 7 where the one or more requests for transcription ofreceived communication signals is specified for a certain number ofcommunication sessions,
 10. The communication system of claim 7 wherethe one or more requests for transcription of received communicationsignals is specified for a certain number of telephone calls over theInternet.
 11. The communication system of claim 7 where the one or morerequest for transcription of received communication signals is specifiedfor a particular user.
 12. The system of claim 7 where the registrationserver contains received user profile information, user login andpassword information and user selectable feature information and wheresaid registration server is coupled to a publicly accessiblecommunication network.
 13. The communication system of claim 6 where theuser database contains information associated with users of acommunication network to which the switch is coupled and saidinformation relates to identity of a user or user equipment as definedby communication standards and protocols of one or more communicationnetworks to which the communication switch is coupled.
 14. A method ofcommunication by a server comprising a communication switch, atranscription engine, a user database and a registration server, themethod comprising: establishing, by the communication switch,communications based on received requests for communication services;transcribing, by the transcription engine, received communicationsignals of the established communications into associated text in realtime and automatically in accordance with at least user selectablefeature information received by the registration server; andtransmitting, by the communication switch, communication signals andassociated text to one or more parties of the establishedcommunications.
 15. The method of claim 14 where the step oftranscribing comprises routing of received voice and/or audiocommunication signals to a transcription engine based on at leastreceived user selectable feature information received the registrationserver.
 16. The method of claim 14 where the transcription enginecomprises a computer system having one or more processors capable ofexecuting voice recognition software and/or speech tuning algorithms toautomatically transcribe audio and/or voice communication signals inreal time.
 17. The method of claim 14 where the establishedcommunications is a telephone call.
 18. The method of claim 14 where thestep of establishing communications comprises receiving user profileinformation by the registration server during user registration; andretrieving user database information from the database and routing saiddatabase information to the communication switch.
 19. The method ofclaim 18 where the user selectable feature information and the userprofile information are received by an Internet website residing in theregistration server.
 20. The method of claim 14 where audio and/or voicecommunication signals and associated text are transmitted by thecommunication switch in accordance with the user selectable featureinformation received by the registrar server.